It used to be the case that stories were timed to climax in the anniversary issues.  Given that they were always the highest sellers, that never really made much sense.  The modern approach - starting the story with the big selling issue - seems far more logical.

Anyway, that means Exiles finds itself with a month to kill before issue #50.  And that means it's time for a throwaway comedy issue.

The Exiles arrive in a world where the Impossible Man has gone nuts, following a botched mind control attempt by the Controller.  Although the reason doesn't really matter.  It's just a world where the Impossible Man has gone nuts and is doing the sort of wacky things that used to happen in Silver Age DC, like turning the Avengers into paper dolls.

So the Exiles fight him, and Morph gets him back under control through a spirit of shared wackiness.  And... (checks story)... yup, that's basically it.

You either like this sort of thing or you don't, and I've never been a particular fan of it.  Much like Arcade stories, these things tend to end up as "Hey, here's a ridiculously over the top set-up.  And here's another one.  And another one."  Tony Bedard and Jim Calafiore (in his recurring guest artist role again) also seem a little uncertain quite what sort of story they're trying to tell.  Is it meant to be simply, silly fun?  Is it trying to have a dark undercurrent?  Seemingly both, and the story ends up falling between two stools.

Fundamentally, the problem is that it's not awfully funny.  And perhaps it's not really meant to be, but if so, god knows what the point is.  A bit of a misfire.

Rating: C

back | continue